In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month the Santa Clara City Library is honored to have celebrated taiko artist and community leader Roy Hirabayashi in discussion with SCCL librarian Danny Le, as a part of this webinar series for the month of May.

Roy has led master classes and workshops throughout the country, composed original works for SJT and other taiko groups, toured with Kodo and Ondekoza, and performed with various jazz musicians, dancers, actors, and performance artists.

Roy is the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the North American Taiko Conference and has been a judge for the International Taiko Contest in Tokyo, Japan. Roy is one of the founders of 1stACT, and is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute Senior Fellow.

He and his wife PJ are recipients of the 2011 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts

He is on the boards of First Voice, Japanese Community Congress of San Jose, and Artsopolis. Roy, along with his wife PJ, received the 2011 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award for their lifelong contributions to the art form of North American taiko. Roy is a native of Oakland, California.

Sign ups are free through EventBrite. 

www.taiko.org/royhirabayashi

www.sclibrary.org

Sponsored by the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.